"The Fire Nation's coming!"
The cry startled the easy-going atmosphere of the afternoon. Sokka and Yue came running up the steps of the main hall.
"The Fire Nation's coming!" Sokka shouted again. He stopped, panting in front of Chief Arnook. "Me...and Yue, we were riding Appa…and we saw the black snow."
Murmurs and cries of fear interrupted from the crowd that had gathered around. Arnook held up a hand for silence.
"We were already aware of the Fire Nation's plans from what you had told us" he said, speaking directly to Sokka. "But it seems the Fire Nation is attacking even sooner than we planned."
Arnook turned to the crowd. "My people! The hour we have dreaded for so long has come! The Fire Nation is on their way! We will stand and fight against these invaders! They are surrounded by our element. We will drive them out and defend our homes, by whatever means necessary!"
The people cheered in response to their leader's supportive speech, but Katara, who was standing in the crowd next to Aang, only felt chills run down her spine. She saw what happened at the Northern Air Temple and the defenders hadn't even been trained warriors. She didn't want that happening on a larger scale!
Sokka was speaking to Arnook again. "…They weren't close enough that we could see them on the horizon, so they're probably a ways away. But judging by how dark the sky was turning, I'd say there's a lot."
Katara tuned out Arnook's voice as he began making battle plans. She simply felt sick. This couldn't be happening! Everything was messed up!
"Katara, are you okay?" asked Aang, frowning. His usual playfulness was gone; he knew this was serious.
Katara nodded wordlessly. She wasn't sure she could speak. The gut-wrenching feeling twisted around inside and made her feel cold.
Inside the main hall, the chief, Pakku and the other important waterbenders, and Aang, being the Avatar, met to discuss battle strategies. Sokka and Katara were there as well, waiting off to the side. Katara could hear Yue arguing with her father. She was protesting being told to leave the city.
"You will go with the others and lead your people to safety! That is an order!" Arnook was saying.
Accessed by waterbending, were ice tunnels that led to a secret fortress used as a sanctuary for those who could not fight in times of attack. Women who were not healers, elderly who were too old or ill to fight, and children who were too young were all exciting the city for this fortress. Some of the teenage waterbenders-boys Katara had spared against- were accompanying them. They knew enough bending to access and secure the tunnels and provide defense if necessary, but weren't skilled enough to stand a real siege.
Those staying included all of the other waterbenders-both men to fight and female healers who would wait further into the city, where they could heal the wounded. Chief Arnook and Pakku would be leading the warriors and as the Avatar, Aang had promised to stay and fight with them. Katara wasn't going to point anything out about Aang agreeing to fight when he claimed he was a pacifist. She and Sokka were, of course, going to help their sister tribe, though Katara suspected they had different reasons.
Katara felt it was the right thing to do, plus Aang would need help. Sokka probably felt the same way, but Katara suspected Princess Yue had something to do with his decision as well.
Katara turned back to Yue and Arnook. Somehow, it seemed, Yue had convinced her father to allow her to stay, but on one condition-she had to stay with Sokka, where he would act as her bodyguard.
Sokka seemed a little shocked as he was told of his assignment, and squeaked out an "um, ok".
Katara noticed Aang had gone outside and was sitting on the steps. She went and sat next to him. "Are you okay?"
The monk shook his head. "No. I wasn't there when the Fire Nation attacked my people. I want to make a difference here…but what if I can't?"
Katara placed a hand on his slender shoulder. "I'm sure you will. In fact, you already are. You're the Avatar. Everywhere we go, you give people hope."
Aang smiled. "Thanks, Katara."
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It was later the next afternoon, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky that the armada appeared on the horizon. Katara waited on the ramparts, with Aang and Appa on one side of her. Warriors, benders and non-benders, the later armed with spears and knives, lined the top of the walls.
Then, a light glinted in the sky. Katara squinted, trying to tell what it was, just as the others around her did. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was, but it was too late. A massive fireball slammed into the wall, shattering the ice. Dozens of people went down screaming. Some were burning; some fell into the icy water.
Katara watched in horror. The fireball had not been close enough to damage where they were standing, but it was close enough.
More fireballs filled the air and the waterbenders created huge shields of ice to block them.
Several of the ships moved forward, barging through the ice and breaking the walls. Their gangplanks went down and hundreds of Fire Nation soldiers, nearly all of them firebenders, leapt out. Some of the soldiers were mounted on frightening beasts, Komodo Rhinos, Katara recognized. Zuko had kept a few on his ship.
Aang had flown ahead on Appa, trying to take out as many ships as he was able before their soldiers could reach the city.
Katara used as much of her new waterbending as possible. She tried to put on a brave face and appear strong and tough, but inside she was terrified. Battle was so…bloody, so horrible, so disgusting.
She'd never actually participated in a real battle before, unless you counted the Northern Air Temple. But all she'd done was drop homemade bombs on the advancing soldiers from atop Appa. And the fight on Zuko's ship wasn't really a battle to her; she'd frozen one pirate and fainted in the heat of it all. Real smooth Katara. That wouldn't happen now.
But they hadn't felt like real battles. Here she was in the midst of it; there was fighting on all sides of her.
By sundown, Aang and Appa returned, both exhausted. Aang had managed to stop at least a dozen ships, but there were so many…
The Fire Nation stopped attacking after sundown. Katara wondered why they didn't form a sneak attack when their enemy was at their weakest. She tried to point this out to Pakku, but he shook his head, saying their losses were already devastating. Most men were with the healers or trying to gain some rest where they could. It would be impossible, he said, to mount and launch a sneak attack so suddenly.
Yue, Katara, and Aang stood on a balcony, feeling helpless. They could see the full moon shining and the battleships in the water, taunting them.
Yue commented on how waterbenders had learned from the moon herself. Aang gasped and leapt to his feet with a gust of air. "The Spirits!" he shouted.
Katara and Yue stared at him. "Maybe we can ask the spirits for help," Aang explained. "If I can get into the spirit world…"
"…then maybe they can give you the wisdom needed to win the battle!" Yue said hopefully.
Aang scratched his head. "I was thinking unleashing a crazy attack on the Fire Nation. But wisdom works too."
"Come with me" Yue said. "I know where you can get to the Spirit World."
Yue lead them through the streets, which were eerily quiet. She stopped at a small round door and pulled it open, gesturing for them to go inside.
Aang and Katara gasped in awe. They were in a beautiful oasis. It was a massive oval shape, with walls made of ice, yet it was so warm and comfortable. At the far end, a waterfall fell down into an intricate pool, which flowed into neat streams covered by wooden bridges. Moonlight shone down, illuminating the oasis. Amazingly, there was soft grass, blossoming trees, and flowers.
Katara was dumbstruck. "How is this possible?"
"This is the center of spiritual energy in our land. Our city was built around this site" Yue explained.
They examined the oasis and saw two Koi, one black with white markings, the other white with black markings, swimming in a circle in the pool.
Aang sat down in front of the pool and tried to meditate. After a while, his tattoos began to glow.
"What's happening?" a panicked Yue asked.
"It's okay" Katara assured her. "He's crossing into the Spirit World."
"How convientent the Avatar puts himself out of the way for us."
Katara felt chills run down her spine. "No." she whispered.
Zhao stood at the entrance of the oasis, with six soldiers behind him, all wearing the skull-masked uniform.
Katara stepped in between them and Aang while Yue ran out another exit Katara hadn't noticed to get Sokka. "You can't take Aang!" Katara shouted, trying to sound brave.
Zhao laughed. "I'm not interested in the Avatar. At least, not at the moment. I'll get to him later. But first, I need you out of my way."
With a growl, Zhao launched a fireball at her. Katara managed to put it out easily, thanking the moon for being full tonight.
Zhao attacked more aggressively and Katara was forced to use more advanced moves to defend herself. She realized the others hadn't attacked, thankfully. She'd gotten a lot stronger, but wasn't sure she'd be able to take on seven highly trained soldiers on her own.
Just when Katara was starting to fear she didn't have a chance at defeating Zhao, a fireball came out of nowhere and knocked him to the side. Both Katara and Zhao were shocked. Katara looked over at the soldiers. One of them had removed his helmet and was in a fighting stance.
It was Zuko.
Katara noticed his face was bruised. There was a bruise underneath his right eye and one on his left jawbone. There were half-healed cuts across his nose and on his forehead and a slight burn on his right cheek. What had happened to him?
"Prince Zuko" Zhao sneered. "I'm amazed to see you're still alive."
"You mean after you tried to have me killed?" Zuko snarled.
Zhao smiled smugly. "Yes. But I'm not surprised to discover you're a traitor."
Zuko growled and swung a flaming fist at Zhao. The other soldiers, Katara noticed, didn't try to stop Zuko, probably because they were still in shock.
Zuko and Zhao were now fighting each other, as well as Zhao trying to attack Katara. She couldn't believe she was actually fighting alongside Zuko.
Zhao glared at them both. For a moment, he looked as if he was going to send an attack towards Zuko. But at the last second, he swung his fist the other way, catching Katara under her jaw and sending her flying back against one of the trees.
Katara felt the pain in her head as she staggered back from the blow. Her body slammed painfully into the tree. Bright flashes of light burst in front of her eyes, not unlike when she was attacked by soldiers before winding up on Zuko's ship. For a moment, everything was clear and she hear Zhao sneer, "How pathetic. Falling in love with a Water Tribe peasant. That would be so typical of you". But then everything became fuzzy, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she pitched forward onto the ground while everything around her went black.
Zuko ignored Zhao's taunt. He slowly moved back closer to the Avatar and Katara. Then he threw down his fist, causing a massive flame to erupt in front of him.
Zhao and his soldiers lifted their arms as the flash of fire momentarily blinded them. When their eyes cleared, the prince, the Water Tribe girl, and the Avatar were all gone.
Zhao growled for a moment, then grinned. At least now there was no one here to interrupt his plan…
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Sokka and Yue were flying over Appa. They were about to head down into the oasis when Sokka pulled the bison up.
"What is it?" Yue asked.
"I don't see Aang or Katara in there" said Sokka.
Yue looked and saw he was right. There were six Fire Nation soldiers gathered around the pond, but no Katara and no Aang.
"Maybe they managed to escape. We need to find them."
"Right. ."
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Zuko trudged through the snow. He'd used the trick to distract them long enough to grab Katara and the Avatar-Aang- and get them away. Then he'd stripped off all of the Fire Nation, pulled the monk over his shoulders, half-carrying, half-dragging him, and Katara in his arms. It was a bit of weight, especially though this snow and he knew they couldn't go far. But at least they were away from Zhao. There was no way he was taking the Avatar from him…or Katara. Zuko shuddered to think what that bastard might do if he got his hands on her.
A moan startled him out of his thoughts. Katara was coming around. He carefully laid both monk and girl down in the snow. Katara moaned again and slowly opened her eyes, blinking away bits of snow that stuck to her eyelashes.
"Zuko?" she murmured.
"Are you alright?" Zuko asked.
"I think so. I'll be okay" she said, trying to get up. She looked around and registered where they were.
"What are you doing?" she shouted, suddenly angry. "Do you just bring us out here to freeze to death?"
"Excuse me, but I just got you both away from Zhao. I could have left you lying there. I think I deserve a 'thank you' at least. It wasn't easy carrying both of you."
Another moan interrupted them. There was a flash of light, then Aang's tattoos stopped glowing and he opened his eyes. "Katara, the moon is- ah!" Aang yelped when he saw Zuko. He looked around frantically. "What's going on? I thought we were in the Spirit Oasis."
"We were" Katara told him. "Bit Zhao attacked us. Zuko…he got us away from Zhao."
"But we need to go back! The moon and ocean are in trouble!"
"What?"
"The moon's going to be destroyed!"
We're going fishing. "Oh, spirits" Zuko hissed. Now it made sense.
"Zhao's going to kill the moon spirit's mortal form so he can overpower and destroy the Water Tribe."
"Katara! Aang!"
They looked up and saw Sokka and Yue approaching on Appa.
"Thank goodness we found you guys. We were looking everywh-what is he doing here?" Sokka shouted pointing at Zuko.
Katara sighed. "I think he's helping us."
Zuko opened his mouth to speak. "I am…"
Sokka cut him off. "No way. I still don't believe he's on our side. I bet this was all part of his plan. He's just looking for ways to capture Aang. And if he happens to get you too Katara, well, then you're just a bonus prize!"
"Sokka!"
Katara felt conflicted. Hadn't Zuko said he would help them against Zhao? Isn't that what he promised in the letter? And he had gotten them away from Zhao so they couldn't be captured.
"Guys…the moon spirit." Aang said urgently.
"We don't have time to argue. We need to get back." Katara said quickly.
"What about jerkbender?" asked Sokka.
Zuko growled and started towards him, but Aang held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "We can't leave him here, Sokka, not after he got us away. Plus, I don't think he can do too much if he did attack. It'd be the three of us against one."
"Fine" Sokka growled.
On the way back to the oasis, Sokka and Zuko glared daggers at one another. The ride was tense, interrupted as the moon turned a horrifying shade of blood red. Katara felt dizzy and Yue and Aang complained of feeling faint.
"Are you alright?" Zuko asked Katara. Sokka looked up from where he was comforting Yue.
"Don't talk to her!" he snarled.
They reached the oasis just in time, it seemed. Zhao was standing on the other side of the pool holding a squirming bad in front of him.
"Zhao, don't!" Aang cried, holding up his hands. "You can't destroy the moon. It'll throw the whole world out of balance."
"The Avatar is right, Zhao. You would do well to listen to him", came a voice from one of the bridges.
Everyone turned to see Uncle Iroh standing there.
"General Iroh," Zhao sighed. "Why am I not surprised to see you a traitor, along with your failure of a nephew?"
"He is no failure and I am no traitor. But if you do harm the moon spirit, I will unleash the pain you do to it on to you tenfold!" When Zhao made no move, Iroh shouted, eyes blazing "LET IT GO NOW!"
Zhao stepped back, startled by the General's blaze of temper. He wasn't the only one. The other soldiers stepped away, and out of the corner of her eye, Katara saw Zuko smirk.
Zhao released the white fish back into the pond and the moon resumed its normal appearance. But then, a twisted look of rage and madness formed on Zhao's face, and he flung a fireball into the pond, burning and killing the poor fish.
"No!" Iroh shouted.
The moon disappeared entirely and everything went gray. Katara felt weak. The moon was gone.
In a fury, Iroh leapt forward and took down the soldiers with more speed and agility then Katara assumed a man of his age and size would have. Within moments, all of the soldiers were lying on the ground, unconscious.
Then Katara noticed something. Zhao was gone. And so was Zuko. He probably went after him, she told herself.
Iroh mournfully pulled the lifeless fish out of the water. Its mate swam around frantically, seemingly lost in the pool.
Tears welled up in Princess Yue's eyes. "It's over" she whispered.
Aang's tattoos began to glow. "No," he said in a thousand past voices. "It's not over."
Katara watched as Aang stepped forward into the pool. The black fish's eyes and markings glowed to match Aang, and for a moment they both disappeared into the water. Then, a blue glow settled over the oasis as the gleaming water flowed outward.
Katara stared in both awe and horror and the glowing water morphed into the shape of an enormous fish. It the center, where it's 'heart' should have been, was Aang. The creature moved forward, wiping out Fire Nation soldiers, destroying their weapons, and drowning their ships.
That settled the problem of the Fire Nation armada. But what about the moon?
Iroh looked startled when he saw Yue, as if he had just noticed her for the first time. "You have been touched by the moon spirit" he commented, noting her piercing blue eyes and white hair.
"Yes. Its life is in me. Maybe…maybe I can give it back." She stood up and moved towards the fish.
"No!" cried Sokka, grabbing her hand. "You can'! I'm supposed to protect you."
Yue smiled at him and placed a hand on his cheek. "And you have. You've done what you're supposed to do. And now I have to do this. It's the only way, Sokka."
Yue placed her hands on the fish. It glowed a right white, then Yue gasped. Her eyes closed and she fell back into the pond. Her white hair spread out around her in the water and turned black as the last bit of life left her.
Iroh placed the newly revived fish back in the pond and pulled out Yue's body. Sokka let out a mournful wail and took her in his arms, crying.
Katara felt tears running down her own cheeks. Yue had been unbelievably brave to sacrifice herself, not just for her tribe, but for the sake and balance of the whole world. She was a hero.
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Zuko leapt over Zhao's attack and sent more fire at him. With one last punch, he managed to knock the older man down.
A look of shock and horror appeared on Zhao's face. "That's impossible!" he cried. Zuko looked. The moon had returned, but how?
It didn't matter. What mattered was that Zhao had failed, that Zuko finally had the chance right now to pull out the thorn that had been in his side and tormented him for so long. Zuko raised his hand, a bright flame glowing in it.
Before he could strike, water erupted from over the side of the bridge they were on. It glowed a mysterious blue and formed the shape of a hand.
Zuko tried to duck and the water-hand grabbed Zhao and began to pull him away. Zuko looked over the side of the bridge as the hand pulled Zhao down into the water.
He held out his hand to Zhao. He had never liked Zhao, never would, but for someone to be pulled underwater, to drown like that-it was horrible, even for him.
But Zhao pulled away and Zuko watched in horror and he was dragged below. Slowly, shaken, he began to turn away from the bridge.
Then another wave of water came, knocking him off the bridge, dragging him into the freezing waters below.